Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe: Lars Ulrich Was Right To Go After Napster

If there ever was a time when 140 character nature of tweets were a hindrance, it’s now. Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe used his Twitter feed to speak his mind quite vociferously and at great length about SOPA, which is the Stop Online Piracy Act. He made a lot of valid points and we give him credit for not getting frustrated at Twitter character limits to keep going! Because like a mad ‘n’ metallic Energizer bunny, that’s just what he did!

Blythe took the corporate nature of the Internet, especially pertaining to creative outlets like YouTube, to task and even engaged in heated dialogue with some of his followers.

His tweets were many, and full of choice cuss words, so here is the gist of the rant and what he espoused:

“The reason I ask you this stuff is to make you think about what is REALLY happening here. I hear a lot of knee jerk reactions from ill-informed people saying “this is just a way for the govt to restrict free speech”- BULLS—. This is a corporate battle being fought at a judicial level by PAID LOBBYISTS — neither corporate side REALLY CARES for A) artists/creators rights or B) free speech rights.

Get the f— outta here. The RIAA hasn’t done much for me lately. People worry about YouTube getting shutdown, as if it is an altruistic creative expression outlet. WHO OWNS YOUTUBE? And WHY does YouTube exist? It ain’t for you to develop your creative side.”

“I don’t think SOPA should be allowed to pass as written. Terms are too broad & open. But there is a corporate race occurring right now that you have little control over. This is all about funding, people. Do a little research & you’ll see where the dollars are coming from that fund some of these supposed “free speech advocacy” groups. It ain’t from idealist libertarians. It’s ALL CORPORATE. ALL OF IT.”

Let’s see who has the juice and cash flow- the FEW PEOPLE making real money off of providing Internet & computer hardware, or the big wigs at the media conglomerates. Y’all’s pissant voices (that includes mine too) will have VERY LITTLE to do with the outcome of the SOPA debate. BE AWARE!”

Blythe also resurrected the dormant topic of Napster, and how Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was demonized for his reaction. Blythe defended Ulrich’s stance, with lots of cusses and CAPS LOCK.

“Lars Ulrich was the face that took a beating. Lars was RIGHT. The whole Napster thing was a FACADE. Napster was NOT an idealistic kid trying to ensure “free music”- IT WAS A CORPORATION. And the heads at Napster up until the 11th hour were in negotiations with the heads of who?- the five major music media conglomerates to SELL Napster for 2 billion so it could become A PAY SERVICE.

The media conglomerates f—ed up by choosing Lars as the face of their battle, even though he was RIGHT and was upset about a track leaking THAT WASN’T RELEASED YET- Metallica let people record shows and trade FOR YEARS when most other bands WOULD NOT. He is demonized for doing what is RIGHT- trying to control WHEN AND WHERE HIS F—ING MUSIC IS RELEASED.

If the folks at Sony & Warner & EMI had chosen a struggling artist to be their face, this whole thing would have been framed in an entirely different way. It’s all BULLS—. WAKE UP. Napster didn’t care about fans, the major media outlets don’t care about fans- IT’S ALL ABOUT MONEY. MONEY MONEY MONEY. CORPERATE DOLLARS. That’s the ONLY thing SOPA is about. Don’t be fooled. Approximately 1/4 of all Internet traffic is the exchange of pirated material.

Tell me who loses and who gains from that material being exchanged and then you’ll have a VERY SIMPLE answer to what this whole SOPA thing is about. #f—ingtruthinyourface.”

Blythe, who makes statements that are too educated and informed to assume he woke up on the wrong side of the bed and felt like taking it out on Twitter followers, admitted that he would have taken a similar tack as Ulrich if the band’s forthcoming album ‘Resolution, due out Jan. 24, leaked early and in unfinished form.

He posted:

“If someone had an unmixed, not completed version of ‘Resolution’ and they threw that up on the Internet right now, I would sue the f—ers for EVERY GODDAMNED PENNY they had and then some.”

He then steered the conversation back towards Ulrich, posing this counter theory:

“What I would say would make Lars Ulrich look like Mother-f—ing-Theresa. People have NO RIGHT to take an unfinished I create & distribute it IN ANY WAY without my knowledge.

If someone does that, they are not only A) STEALING FROM ME, they are B) F—ING WITH MY CREATIVE PROCESS. I will f—ing fight tooth & nail to PROTECT WHAT I DO. ITS MINE. If I never want to release a track- I won’t. Some a–hole shouldn’t be allowed to make DECISIONS FOR ME. Someone made a decision FOR Metallica without their consent. Why is Lars demonize[d] for being PISSED over that?

It’s like taking someone’s raw journal entry they were going to turn into a newspaper story & publishing it. It’s WRONG. If I was going to sue people whole stole my music, I would be DROWNING in litigation right now. It would be impossible.”

But I SURE AS F– would sue ANYONE that released an UNFINISHED lamb of god product, one that I was NOT ready for the world to hear. I might go break their f—ing knee caps too. F— ANYONE that can’t grasp that concept. DONT f— with MY MUSIC.”

Blythe’s Twitter bio reads: “I sing for lamb of god. I ride a moped. I don’t give a f—.” For more of Blythe’s ranting and raving, go here.